Love triangle woman distressed over stabbing

By Emma Partridge and Rachel Olding

The lover of a man charged with fatally stabbing her ex-husband inside a busy shopping mall said her partner was "really good and nice" and she could not understand what had happened.

Kazem Mohammadi Payam, 35, was charged with murder after he allegedly stabbed Nabil Naser, 40, to death in front of horrified workers, shoppers and children inside Westfield Parramatta on Monday morning.

A distressed friend of Kazem Mohamadi Payam leaves court in tears.

Photo: Emma Partridge

Mr Payam's lawyer said after he was formally refused bail in Parramatta Local Court on Tuesday that he could defend the charges.

His partner sat crying in her Yagoona home on Tuesday and struggled to explain how the love triangle turned deadly.

She said she met Mr Payam, originally from Iran, in 2011 after she separated from Mr Naser in 2010.

Mr Payam came to Australia as an "illegal maritime arrival" and was granted a permanent protection visa in 2010, a spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said.

"Yesterday he go to shopping ... I don't know why."

She clutched tissues and turned up the volume on her television in the hope of learning any more news about the attack, which occurred just outside the cosmetic section of Myer.

"I'm waiting for my partner's news," she said.

As she sat on her couch, detectives knocked on the door to give back a mobile phone they had seized as part of their investigations.

Mr Payam did not apply for bail on Tuesday. He glanced in his partner's direction and scratched his head as he sat in the holding docks.

A Farsi interpreter spoke with him briefly before officers led him out of the courtroom, leaving his partner to weep silently in the public gallery.

Outside court, his lawyer Georgina Namat said Mr Payam would defend the charges and apply for bail when he next appeared before the same court on July 24.

"We are not applying for bail today but we will be applying for bail soon," she said. "We will be defending the charges."

She said the conflict was to do with "some personal conflict among the family".

Police confirmed they had recovered the murder weapon that had been bought the same day within the shopping centre.

A mobile phone store manager at Westfield, who didn't want to be identified, said he saw Mr Payam ripping off his shirt and making a 20-minute phone call.

"He took his shirt off and lighted a cigarette and was on the phone call for about 15-20 minutes," he said. "He was very calm, he was talking on the phone and kind of like he was explaining himself but then after that he hung up and [was] yelling to police on the other side, 'What are you waiting for? Come get me, come get me, I'm waiting for you.'"

He said he saw the victim rolling on the ground near a set of couches and tables in between an Oroton store and Aquila Shoes.

"At the moment that I saw the victim he was stabbed already. He was just rolling a little bit, kind of like a spasm and that's it. And it just went silent and the blood was gushing out of his chest."

Detectives said they were still trying to establish a clear motive but said the men knew each other and the attack came after a heated argument between them.

Mr Morrison is considering whether to cancel Mr Payam's visa.

“The Minister notes the individual has been refused bail and has called for a submission on the options available regarding his visa status,” his spokesman said.